November 2008

November 25, 2008

"It wasn't enough for Iowa to rip Minnesota, 55-0, Saturday night in the Golden Gophers' last game in the Metrodome (the team is moving to a new on-campus facility next season). Two cheating Hawkeye fans wanted more, and more. ...

A Metrodome security officer noticed two sets of feet with underwear dropped to the ground in a handicapped bathroom stall. A closer inspection found Hawkeye fans having sex.

A group of 15 onlookers were gawking at the scene by the time officers broke the couple up and wrote them misdemeanor citations. The woman, 38, was turned over to her husband. The man, 26, was turned over to his girlfriend.

Not all Iowa fans were getting into trouble. Matt Schultz, a former high school receiver who was in Minneapolis for the game, ran down a man who shooting up a car after the bars closed early Saturday morning.

"Right as we were walking out of the bar, we saw the guy running and two cops chasing after him and my brother just yells out, 'Get him!'," Schultz said.

"So then I just ran up behind him and put my arm around his neck and brought him down. Then I had him in a sleeper hold until the cops came and they took care of the rest."

Kyle Veazey, Clarion Ledger: Friday's game between Mississippi State and Mississippi will be the final broadcast for Raycom Sports, ending a 17-year run of serving as the Southeastern Conference's regional television syndicator for football.

Mick McGrane and Brent Schrotenboer: San DIego Union-Tribune: Chuck Long said he had no inkling of his impending dismissal at San Diego State, but university president Stephen Weber disclosed that an effort to raise private money to buy out the final two years of Long's contract had been in the works for more than two weeks.

Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News: Bill Snyder will find things tougher at Kansas State the second time around.

Chloe White, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Carol Petersen, the wife of Tennessee president John Petersen has been restricted from contacting donors and staff after a confrontation that humiliated a key volunteer and reportedly ended with Carol Petersen yelling at her husband.

There could be up to 15,000 empty seats at Boone Pickens Stadium Saturday night for the showdown between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

The reason is that Oklahoma State officials decided last spring not to make single-game tickets available for the game. To get a seat, you had to purchase a season ticket. The move was designed to lure Oklahoma fans, many of whom can't fathom a Sooner game going on without their presence, to purchase season tickets for their rival.

We just finished one election, so let's start another. This one has nothing to do with higher office. This is political football, the way a sport picks a champion — or at least one to play in the title game.

Mack Brown and Bob Stoops started their lobbying efforts in full on Monday. Brown, whose team is clinging to the No. 2 spot in the Bowl Championship Series standings, was asked his opinion about the USA Today coaches poll — one-third of the BCS formula — that had the Sooners ranked ahead of the Longhorns despite Texas' 45-35 victory against Oklahoma on a neutral field on Oct. 11.

"I think the coaches will come to light this weekend. I really worry that coaches don't pay too much attention to [voting]. We didn't play this weekend. They're sitting there, getting on their planes, saw a score and said, 'Wow, let's do this,' " Brown said of the reaction to Oklahoma's 65-21 victory over then No. 2 Texas Tech. "That's why I don't like the BCS. If we had a playoff right now, would it not be great to have the top eight teams? There will be more than us and Oklahoma that will be left out if we both win."

The message is clear: Take Texas and give the 35 points against Texas A&M on Thanksgiving Day. The Longhorns are going to do everything in their power to run up a big number on the Aggies in the nationally televised game.

Stoops brought a third team into this love triangle. "If you can’t put us in front of Texas [because of the head-to-head result], if that’s your logic, then you have to keep Texas Tech in front of Texas," he said. "If it’s logical for one, it has to be logical for the other."

"We think quite a bit of Oklahoma and the Big 12," the Texas Tech coach said. "Our experience with that is Oklahoma beat us, Texas did not, so Oklahoma goes above [Texas]. And then we like the Big 12 better than the SEC, and plus Oklahoma’s impressed me this year more than Alabama, so Oklahoma's at the top."

Stoops, who turned down an opportunity to vote in the coaches' poll (Brown and Leach have votes), was asked if he regrets that decision. "Probably," he said.

Each side is employing all means necessary in this high-stakes battle. A member of Texas' sports information staff was sending text messages to sportswriters late Saturday reminding them that the Longhorns had beaten Oklahoma and Missouri by double digits last month. Some Texas students have started a Facebook page titled, "Texas did beat OU 45-35, lest we forget." It has over 4,200 members at the time of this post. Longhorn fans at Shaggy Bevo are attempting to raise money for an airplane flyover with a pro-Texas banner on Saturday morning in Stillwater.

November 24, 2008

South Florida coach Jim Leavitt sarcastically answers a question by Brett McMurphy of the Tampa Tribune on the significance of the Bulls securing a trip to a fourth consecutive bowl game after a 17-13 victory against Connecticut on Saturday.